Home row basics: where your fingers go
Every touch typist starts from the same eight keys. Learn them once and your hands will always know where they are.
The eight home keys
Look at the middle row of letters on your keyboard. Rest your left hand so that your little finger is on A, ring finger on S, middle finger on D and index finger on F. Now the right hand: index finger on J, middle finger on K, ring finger on L and little finger on the ; key. Both thumbs hover over the space bar.
That's the home row. Your fingers go out from here to press other keys and come straight back afterwards, like Mog returning to her favourite cushion.
Find it without looking
Run your index fingers along the middle row and you'll feel a small raised bump on the F and J keys. Almost every keyboard has them. Those bumps exist so you can land your index fingers in the right place by touch alone; the other fingers then fall naturally onto their keys. In the game, F and J are drawn with a little bar to remind you.
Posture matters more than you'd think
- Sit up with your feet flat on the floor and the screen at eye level.
- Keep your wrists straight and slightly raised, not resting on the desk, so your fingers can move freely.
- Curve your fingers gently, as if holding a small ball. Flat fingers hit neighbouring keys by mistake.
- Elbows close to your body, shoulders relaxed. If something aches, take a break.
Try it now
Lesson 1 in the game uses only home-row keys: fff jjj ddd kkk and so on. It looks boring for a minute, and then something clicks: your fingers start pressing keys before you've consciously thought about them. That feeling is the whole point of touch typing, and it starts here.
Tip: keep your eyes on the screen, not on your hands. The game shows you which finger to use, so there is nothing to look down for. Peeking is the number-one habit that slows learners down.
🐱 Practise the home row